Anti-Clone – Human EP

By RingMaster Review on August 31, 2022 • ( 0 )

Even as time seems to fly by, four years is a long time to wait and that is exactly how long UK extreme alternative metallers ANTI-CLONE had been on hiatus before announcing and unleashing their new single, Human.

Having greedily devoured their previous outings such as the Hands Sewn Together EP of 2014 and the band’s debut album The Root of Man two years later, keen anticipation swiftly grew for their return, the new single and especially with the announcement that the Human EP would arise soon after. Curiosity and trepidation also rose a little; would the band be as creatively barbarous and venomously striking as before especially with them saying they were exploring their more melodic side in these new songs. That lead single gave more than a clue and the EP since a forceful declaration; ANTI-CLONE have returned creatively bolder, in many ways even more animatedly predatory, and certainly more viscerally ferocious than ever.

The time away has seen the band forge a new line-up of vocalist Peter “CLΩNE” Moore, guitarist William “26” Richardson, drummer Drew “ALPHA” Moore and bassist Pat “KAKES” Godinho, and as we mentioned given space for the band to evolve their invention by bringing their melodic prowess to the fore and re-defining the physical animosity of their music. It has rewarded with a sound and songwriting which is as vicious and uncompromising as ever but with a more rounded and richer enterprise; the power in its character and temptation greedily proven by the EP’s opening title track.

Human rises up behind a tone shaping sample and quickly hits its rhythmic and vocal stride. Straightaway there is virulence soaking its web of enticement, the track only tightening its grip as Moore and the band launch their vitriol upon the cataclysmic intent of the world and it’s devouring of everyday being. Within seconds the track proved that ANTI-CLONE have lost none of their lust to accuse, plague and stir up the despoilers of the world, the song in sound and voice undiluted dispute. It continues to swing with pugilistic intent and offer twists and turns with dervish volatility yet it is all defined with poise and resourceful animosity.

The track is superb, cathartic to one’s own ire and throat with each soon eagerly deployed in unity with the following Punish Me. Going for the jugular from the start, the track prowls and stalks as Moore viciously swings his words and venom in mercurial prowess. Every rhythmic punch digs deep as wiry grooves bind and riffs burrow around that verbal discord, it all building to a roar of a chorus as melodically fired as it is invasively virulent. Nagging and violent, menacing and anxiety washed, the song is a self-reflecting psychopath of creative magnificence, our favourite moment with the band so far.

End of the World is next up, a song bred in the grips of the Covid pandemic and the provoking of thought its isolation and experience gave. It is a plaintive cry of emotive tension within a relatively calm but no less volatile and tempestuous landscape of emotion and sound. Indeed it is a song which sparked echoes of one’s own moments of anxiety, its breath understanding, its touch encouraging and infectious but still wearing the shadow of apocalyptic possibilities.

There is no evading the venom of Spiteful, the track spewing animosity and resentment from its opening outcry and pouring hostility through every subsequent second in sound, word and voice. Centring on the media and those propagating lies and slander as well as those simply accepting, the song unleashes feral discord and pissed off insurgency upon the senses yet punches their intent home in a melodically cured chorus as bruising as it is seductive. Again, every second makes a deep and potent impact, a quality and prowess the whole EP uncages as it springs easily the finest experience and pleasure with ANTI-CLONE yet.

And it does not stop there, get a physical version of the Human EP and you will find Army Of Me lying in wait, a track which sways like a cobra initially as rhythms manipulate the senses and only grows more compelling and callous in sound and discontent, rancour dripping from every breath even across its mercurially melodic and toxic landscape.

So that is the Human EP, a release which thrusts ANTI-CLONE to not only the fore of the UK metal scene but creative and emotive dispute in general.

The Human EP is released 16th September with pre-ordering available @ https://anticlone.bigcartel.com/